East German Patent No. 142541, East German Patent No. 142542, JP-A-7-2655 and Tetrahedron vol. 39, p.2289 (1983) and Tetrahedron Lett. vol. 25, 44, p.5095 (1984) disclose 3-methylthiobiphenyl derivatives, and East German Patent No. 4323916 and International Patent Application WO95/02580 disclose 3-pyridylphenyl sulfide derivatives. However, none of them mention anything about insecticides or miticides. Also, International Patent Application WO96/06830, JP-A-2-184675, JP-A-60-233061, European Patent No. 152590, South African Patent No. 6800955 and German Patent No. 3316300 report 3-azorylphenyl sulfide derivatives but mention nothing about insecticides or miticides. On the other hand, use of 4-biphenyl sulfide derivatives as insecticides is reported, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3442955. However, the 3-arylphenyl sulfide derivatives of the present invention have not been known yet.
In recent years, some of the conventional commercial insecticides are restricted in their use in view of problems of persistency, accumulation and environmental pollution, and others have become less effective as the pest insects have acquired resistance during their use for a long period of time. Therefore, it has been desired to develop a new insecticide which is highly effective at a low dose and excellent in safety.